Let me ask you a question. If the ME is so fabulous, and the U.S. is so horrible, then why are you still here? Perhaps you should follow your heart,
and leave.

Why do you keep putting words in my mouth and making poor assumptions? They say ignorance is bliss, are you extremely happy?

You speak like a true drone that is plugged into the system. You better hope when the time comes I, or someone like me, is there to save you.
Unlike you I don't believe in giving up on my country and allowing it to collapse into the toilet. But I'm glad your answer is for people that
aren't mindless drones to leave the country.

It's apparent you are a Kool-Aid drinker since you are offering it to me. What flavor is the Kool-Aid you are offering?

Isn't it time for you to go to work? It will be nice when you give us a break from your circle logic, horribly formed arguments, and poor attempts
and word twisting. But it's nice to see the Kool-Aid works on you.

I never implied that the US did. I did mention the Afgan Government not doing anything.

It doesn't change the facts on the ground either. Nothing is
being done about it. The US Military reports it to no avail. Corruption is rampant in the Government there. So some and I mean some commanding
officers simply to bother pushing it up the chain of command to be reported.

When we did a search of a Afghan bazar back in 2007, we were told of a 'Taliban office' where this situation happened. When we went into the bazar,
the 'office' was empty, but we found plenty of drugs and ledgers of drug transactions. We took the ledgers and that is when the fun began! We received
calls from the Afghan Presidents office to return the ledgers immediately. When we looked at the ledgers, we found high level drug involvement up to
and including the presidential level.
But back to the original story. We asked out interpreters and old Afghan hands what the 'boy toy' situation was about. They told us that Afghanistan
men normally do not marry until their 30's and their contact up until that time was a homo one. They then went on to say this was not unusual in the
Arab community.

We cannot make-over primitives with no morality or concept of rights into "Good Americans'. What, did you think we went there to help? We went there
to kill the Taliban before they killed more of us. Watch the movie "Restrepo' about our guys there and the people there, then tell me how we fix
that.
a reply to: DeathSlayer

i am a typical, stoic male. News stories don't rattle me often, and I shrug 99% of what I hear in any given day.

But this story...has screwed up the whole week so far for me. I walk around in a state of seething anger all day. I keep snapping at people, and
acting like a general asshole. Because this story is like a 10 ton ship weighing on my mind.

How ashamed I am of my nation, of our soldiers, of all of us. Absolutely ashamed, and completely outraged to the point of boiling over in situations
that I would normally never boil over.

The teachers edition is missing stuff, which is why I didn't link to it... the best versions are on Vimeo, but you can't embed that here...

If you haven't checked out the rest of his stuff, you should, it's all as good if not better, especially The Century of the Self, which is probably
the most important documentary that Americans haven't seen, and if I was President for a day I'd put it on every channel in the US... the biggest
problem with American's is their ignorance... once they KNOW something they usually act pretty reasonably, but sadly so many have embraced
ignorance... it's a long road to get back to a reasonable starting point... look no further than the Iran deal for a perfect example...

Don't forget - The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear... which was amazing too.
Discusses a lot of the reasons why we're involved out in the middle east etc and the BS to get us to go in.

The films compare the rise of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their
origins and claiming similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister
organised force of destruction, specifically in the form of al-Qaeda, is a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries—and particularly
American Neo-Conservatives—in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies.

We may not be able to fix it, but we surely don't have to tacitly support it.

Get our soldiers, sailors, and marines out of Afghanistan--yesterday. National security, quite frankly, be damned. That is no excuse for allowing
anything like this to happen and look the other way. How can anyone look at themselves in the mirror and not be sickened if they don't at least try
to do something?

I've already contacted my Congress critters, two of whom are yours if I remember correctly... I'm not going to urge you to, or not to, for that
matter...

The only way this is going to go before Congress is for us to make such a screaming fuss that they can't ignore it. This is not about national
security...that dog don't hunt.

If American military, or NATO members, are involved in any fashion...at all. They should hang. Metaphorically, or literally, at this point I don't
really give a damn.

Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall.

I'd like to understand how you think that a corrupt Congress is really going to step in and do something to soldiers that are "doing what they are
told," or "just following orders?" (Starting to sound eerily like Nazi Germany, it should. We are the 4th Reich.)

Seriously, they barely did anything with the gov't contractors (Blackwater) killing civilians.
What about Abu Ghraib? They had no problem trying US soldiers and again skipping right over the gov't contractors.

This issue? It's a social issue. I've been saying this again and again. They aren't going to do anything because the soldiers are not a part
of the situation. If it's anything like the early days they are still told to stay out of their "culture." And I suggest the same thing - not my
culture, going to stay out of it. I think separating them is about all the military can do otherwise we are starting to get into and change their
culture.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
i am a typical, stoic male. News stories don't rattle me often, and I shrug 99% of what I hear in any given day.

But this story...has screwed up the whole week so far for me. I walk around in a state of seething anger all day. I keep snapping at people, and
acting like a general asshole. Because this story is like a 10 ton ship weighing on my mind.

How ashamed I am of my nation, of our soldiers, of all of us. Absolutely ashamed, and completely outraged to the point of boiling over in situations
that I would normally never boil over.

I'm glad you shared this BFFT. This has been one of the key points about real freedom that I've been trying to make. By allowing this story
to have this kind of effect, you give up your own power. Now, before anyone proclaims something to the effect - "any decent person would have this
reaction," allow me to explain as best I can.

To be a decent person you don't need to have a reaction. If that's the measure of a decent person it's no wonder so many people fall prey to the
numerous charlatans of the world whom are great at pretending to be upset. Consider a different perspective - language. Specifically, the "N-word."
It's really just a word. The power that it has over both white and black people is a social construct. In truth, words have no power other than what
we are willing to let them have.

If a white person calls a black person a "N..." and the black person gets upset then he has given up his personal power to the white person. However,
if he ignores the white person or even diminishes it with "yea, so?." Then he has retained his power and diminished the white person's attempt at
gaining power.

It's the same thing with these stories. But my conjecture is that people have been socially conditioned to react with outrage to stories like
these and are purposefully aired and used to cause visceral reactions in people. This causes social outrage and people come on forums, Facebook,
and other social media outlets to proclaim their outrage. Why?

What good has it done you or those around you to allow this story to affect you the way it has? From where I sit, you gave up your personal power to
this story.

If it's corrupt, and it is in all too many cases, whose bleepin' fault is that? Guess what... Look in the damned mirror.

We've allowed this to happen. No one else. No one.

Any other excuse is a cop out.

So, yes, I'm going to write letters. I'm going to make a damned nuisance out of myself. When my congress critter comes home to get reelected I'm
going to stand up and ask her what she plans on doing about it. ...then I'll ask her again. ...and again.

If i'm alone in this, so be it. I really don't give a damn if I'm alone in this little campaign of mine. Maybe it's useless, then again, it will be
if I do nothing.

If it's corrupt, and it is in all too many cases, whose bleepin' fault is that? Guess what... Look in the damned mirror.

We've allowed this to happen. No one else. No one.

Any other excuse is a cop out.

So, yes, I'm going to write letters. I'm going to make a damned nuisance out of myself. When my congress critter comes home to get reelected I'm
going to stand up and ask her what she plans on doing about it. ...then I'll ask her again. ...and again.

If i'm alone in this, so be it. I really don't give a damn if I'm alone in this little campaign of mine. Maybe it's useless, then again, it will be
if I do nothing.

Cop out if you wish.

Not hardly. I've been studying the nature of the corruption and how it got that way. If you don't know where it's coming from you can't fix it.
It's been a slow process. Things really kicked into gear between WWII and 1963. Eisenhower warned us, JFK paid the price, as did many other leaders
in the 1960s.

You also have to have a solution, and I'm working on that too. I'm a firm believer that pointing out the problems can't be the only solution, you
have to be able to step up and say - "this is how we will do things differently."

And I'm trying here. I'm trying to impart the absolute truth - the real understanding of personal power and how people continue to give
it up to this fake societal construct. How they use it against us.

I'm one of the crazy ones, because I still believe I can change the world. I have also accepted two things:
1. change doesn't come from within a corrupt system
2. I must be willing to die

So, you continue doing what makes you feel good, albeit playing their game. I will continue to disagree. And one day when I'm dead and you are
wondering why things are worse in the USA, all I ask is that you remember the things I've said - mainly personal power.

I'd say that children being raped as part of a culture....finesse goes out the window. A guaranteed way to stop it is to apply a liberal use of
bullets on perpetrators.

Its one of those things where rational thought has no place whatsoever. Stopping it by any means available...that is all there is.

You can bet my legislators are hearing about this. Loudly, and obnoxiously. Over and over again. What the hell are they spending my tax dollars on
over there if its not to stop the abuse of the people? Delivering "freedom"???

I liked your post I quoted. I think it (and the post I'm replying to) spoke to the reality of the situation for our military over there.

The book I read told about other actions that our military reports to local govt officials and nothing gets done or the guilty guy is just set free by
the local officials.

At least since the New York Times story came out, Americans are generally now aware of the situation and can, as some posters here have done, let
their elected leaders know they don't like this horrible situation.

originally posted by: Bspiracy
I watched the below vid a couple years ago and there is a segment on the issue dealing with warlords using little boys. There's a quote by a warlord
which goes something like "what do you expect the men to do? eff their grandmothers?" . .

To know more about the situation, watch this. It's an excellent but sad documentary. Really sad for the Marine being interviewed as he is a good man
trying to make positive changes and eventually gets ousted by the corrupt world he's trying to fix.

b

I watched most of this. I'm stunned. At first I thought well, these guys all easily fall within the intellectual functioning range of mild to
moderate mental retardation. Then no, they are all on heroin. Then they sell their weapons. The marines ask them to not defecate in the showers and
it makes them angry. Called the marines "idiots". They know about hygiene. They wash their hands before they eat.

They put a fence up for them to protect their base, and they tore it down to sell for scrap metal.

A marine is sweeping the area for landmines. One of the Afghan soldiers says "It doesn't matter, if they blow someone up it's only going to be an
Afghan". A marine asks them to fill up sandbags. They stop a car with a family in it, and have the children in the car fill the sandbags for
them.

As they were going off to a fight the guy in charge had to remind them "TRY to tell the difference between the Taliban and civilians." Then they
shoot and shoot tons of ammo, at *nothing*.

It's hopeless. I finally got so disgusted I stopped watching. It literally seems, hopeless. The spirits and minds are broken, and those will have
to be repaired before anything else can take place. That task alone would take years.

If you have time, watch some of it. It is mostly NOT about child molestation, but it is mentioned several times. Our good marines sound like
Einstein/Jesus in comparison.

I'd say that children being raped as part of a culture....finesse goes out the window. A guaranteed way to stop it is to apply a liberal use of
bullets on perpetrators.

Its one of those things where rational thought has no place whatsoever. Stopping it by any means available...that is all there is.

You can bet my legislators are hearing about this. Loudly, and obnoxiously. Over and over again. What the hell are they spending my tax dollars on
over there if its not to stop the abuse of the people? Delivering "freedom"???

You misunderstand me. I'm saying your emotional reaction that spread outward to those around you diminished your personal power. In other words, the
story got the best of you. I've been studying this stuff for a while, and TPTB love stories and events that cause people these reactions.
Keeping us in an overly emotional state has become an art to them.

I'd also argue that contacting your legislators is more in the finesse category and not the might category. What do you really expect Congress to do?
Authorize the killing of these people because of the sh#!thole their society has become? Because of the society that we gave them?

Afghanistan was progressive (not in the liberal politics way) and becoming modern prior to our involvement starting in the 1970s. What is
happening there is a direct result of US funded support, bombing, and occupation. So, go us!? But people don't want to talk about history.
I'm sorry but we are absolutely doomed to repeat this if we don't learn from what we have been doing.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.